Looking for a mortgage and wondering about online mortgages; e.g., Quicken, Penfed. Has anyone done a mortgage with one of these and can report their experience? I'm buying a condo in Arizona but am not residing there currently. What is the best way to compare rates and closing costs between online lenders?

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, The foresight to know where you're going, And the insight to know when you've gone too far. ~ Irish Blessing

I quoted with multiple online lenders before settling with pitting Bank of America against one of them to get the best rate (BoA won). Make sure you make a list and compare various fees they are charging you. They make it sound like "we are giving you the best rate and deal". However, when I made all the adjustments, Quicken's origination and other add-on fees were 2-3 times that of any other lender.

"The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'" - Sir John Templeton

I quoted with multiple online lenders before settling with pitting Bank of America against one of them to get the best rate (BoA won). Make sure you make a list and compare various fees they are charging you. They make it sound like "we are giving you the best rate and deal". However, when I made all the adjustments, Quicken's origination and other add-on fees were 2-3 times that of any other lender.

Do you have to go through the process of making an application and providing your financial information to each of these to get a quote and fees? Were you online with Bof A as well, or in-person?

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, The foresight to know where you're going, And the insight to know when you've gone too far. ~ Irish Blessing

Do you have to go through the process of making an application and providing your financial information to each of these to get a quote and fees? Were you online with Bof A as well, or in-person?

The application part depends on the lender. Most lenders should be able to send you a fee disclosure and give you an estimated rate quote by asking you for some information about the property, your income and a rough estimate of your credit score. However, nothing would be guaranteed until you fill out an application and they pull your credit. I got initial disclosures and quotes from 4 local banks/credit unions and 3 or 4 online lenders/aggregators. Then, I filled out applications with the 3 best quotes and had them pull my credit in the same week. The financial documents like W2s, 1099s and proofs were sent only to the final lender.

BoA was online but the last-minute haggling was over the phone with 3 lenders in the game. BoA basically said, "We want you as our customer. Send us anyone else's best offer you get and we will beat it". That's exactly what they did.

"The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'" - Sir John Templeton

Not exactly on point, but I opened a HELOC with Pen Fed back around 2003. It remained open for about a decade. In fact, I ended up paying off my remaining mortgage with the HELOC (when there was about 2-3 years left on the mortgage) as the rate on the HELOC was lower than the rate on my mortgage.

I subsequently applied for new homeowners insurance and the process was slowed down because the insurance company wanted some kind of paperwork about the HELOC (I can’t remember what exactly at this moment). That slowdown annoyed me as I was not even using the HELOC so I closed it.

Did an online refi several years ago -- just needed a local mobile notary for the process. No real issues.

Started the process to buy a house last year using Quicken, but the local sellers were highly resistant and essentially forced me to go local -- something of a pain when the new house was two states and 700 miles away... I had no issues with the Quicken process while I was in it.

In Fall, 2016, we refied after shopping on Bankrate and Zillow. IIRC, the online form required inputting information, but I got nonbinding quotes with no credit pull, until I actually applied to a specific lender. We went with an outfit called AnnieMac in New Jersey, and all went smoothly. 3% fixed on on a 20 year loan, about 55% loan to value. They matched someone else's offer that came in after I got started with them. They sent a notary to my house to do the closing, and he notarized something else I needed signed as well for free!

So far, Penfed has been the most transparent regarding fees -- right on their website. Quicken wants me to go through the process of credit check, financial records, etc. before they'll say anything so I will probably eliminate them for that reason. Most lenders seem cagey about fees and want you to prequalify but I'm leery about credit pulls and sharing financials until I'm down to the short strokes with lenders.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, The foresight to know where you're going, And the insight to know when you've gone too far. ~ Irish Blessing

I've used First Internet Bank twice now, for a purchase and also a re-finance. They aren't the rock bottom lowest rates you can find, but they are much lower than B&M banks. While I know it doesn't mean much for mortgages the fact that they have FDIC coverage for their normal bank accounts gave me a bit of peace of mind. All paperwork could be submitted through a secure web portal and it was very easy. They give you a contact person out of their Indiana office who can ease your mind or walk you through anything you aren't sure about.

If I recall waiting on the appraisal company was the only slowdown but that was more on the appraiser. All in all I think both times it took less than 45 days from application to close. Working with the title company was seamless too. They did sell off the note after a few months to a different party, but everything was automatically updated. I would definitely use them again.

Quicken is a high pressure sales environment. You can always get a better deal.

We did a mortgage with ING Direct 11 years ago (they are no more, Cap One took over and now has sold mortgage). Worked fine except for a mistake that I caught at closing on HELOC rate. Called them, they said they record all calls, replayed it a week later and I was right.

Due to slower response time I would ONLY use an online bank for a refi, never a new purchase. You can always refi to something better right after the deal closes.

I'm a newbi on this stuff. Guess you're saying to just get a mortgage with no prepayment penalty and then you can refi at will? But then you'd have to pay the closing costs all over again, yes?

You can refinance anytime, but will need to pay closing costs again. However, if this is a state with a mortgage tax, it may be worth finding a lower rate to start with. In these states, if you refinance, you may have to pay this mortgage tax again. From a Google search, it appears that Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee have mortgage taxes.

Also, look into choosing your own title insurance company. The mortgage lender is allowed to involve an affiliate in the title insurance, and prices are usually higher that way. One option is Entitle Direct. If you refinance, go back to that same title insurer and ask them for a quote for the refinance, as well (many times they give you a discount within a certain number of years of the original loan).

I was not happy with Penfed for a number of reasons. The process was almost blind to me. We could not tell where we were in the process. I finally got upset with one of the agents (not rude though) and they put me on a "special list" with special help. Before that I felt like I was being handed off from one agent to another. An example of the problem was: even after we had already made several payments my Insurance agent emailed me and ask why Penfed what a certain document. He had never had that request after a loan had been approved. Still not sure why that was done after the loan was approved.

In Fall, 2016, we refied after shopping on Bankrate and Zillow. IIRC, the online form required inputting information, but I got nonbinding quotes with no credit pull, until I actually applied to a specific lender. We went with an outfit called AnnieMac in New Jersey, and all went smoothly. 3% fixed on on a 20 year loan, about 55% loan to value. They matched someone else's offer that came in after I got started with them. They sent a notary to my house to do the closing, and he notarized something else I needed signed as well for free!

Bankrate and Zillow are by far the best way to find the lowest online lenders. The rates are already online. I shopped around last year when I bought my house, and ended up using Garden State Home Loans. Easiest mortgage process I've been through (used medium and big banks for prior mortgages). I feel like it is a secret that only a few people know about. I looked into penfed and Quicken, which were both thousands of dollars more expensive to close, with higher rates.

I refinanced a mortgage with PenFed, it was not the original mortgage. Closing was smooth - they came to my workplace so I could sign the papers there. Communication prior to closing was poor; they didn't keep me informed of the process and this was not my first refi, so I wasn't a complete newbie. I don't love Penfed's website and customer service is average or below. I got a great rate, but am doubtful I would ever use PF again for a mortgage.

I refinanced with Sebonic / Cardinal Financial, getting their rates through bankrate.com. Once I started, the whole thing was done within about 10 days. I was actually a bit surprised at how easy it was; everything was online and I just needed to upload documents. On the day of closing, someone come to meet me for the wet signatures which they then overnight, and that's it.

I refinanced with Sebonic / Cardinal Financial, getting their rates through bankrate.com. Once I started, the whole thing was done within about 10 days. I was actually a bit surprised at how easy it was; everything was online and I just needed to upload documents. On the day of closing, someone come to meet me for the wet signatures which they then overnight, and that's it.

Side note

I worked for them...

Sebonic on any given day may have the absolute lowest rates in the entire industry thru bankrate

Alternatively, applying directly at cardinal , the parent company, results in much higher rates than the industry average.

In Fall, 2016, we refied after shopping on Bankrate and Zillow. IIRC, the online form required inputting information, but I got nonbinding quotes with no credit pull, until I actually applied to a specific lender. We went with an outfit called AnnieMac in New Jersey, and all went smoothly. 3% fixed on on a 20 year loan, about 55% loan to value. They matched someone else's offer that came in after I got started with them. They sent a notary to my house to do the closing, and he notarized something else I needed signed as well for free!

Bankrate and Zillow are by far the best way to find the lowest online lenders. The rates are already online. I shopped around last year when I bought my house, and ended up using Garden State Home Loans. Easiest mortgage process I've been through (used medium and big banks for prior mortgages). I feel like it is a secret that only a few people know about. I looked into penfed and Quicken, which were both thousands of dollars more expensive to close, with higher rates.

I also give a thumbs up to Garden State Home Loans.

I just started thru the mortgage process about 3 weeks ago. Got quotes/credit pulls from large banks (Citi/Chase/BoA/Wells Fargo) as well as Quicken, Costco, and bankrate. The large banks were just nowhere competitive. Neither was Quicken. Costco affiliates lenders were not too bad but the best offers were from better.com and Garden State Home Loans (GSHL).

GSHL has the best initial offer. They were offering loans from United Wholesale Mortgage and they were offering free appraisal (credit at closing) and $28 credit report which to my surprise GHSL was willing to pass along to me without markup. GHSL wanted to charge origination for a 45 day lock instead of default 30 day.

Better.com offers 45 day lock by default. Better had a price match and beat competition by $1,000 offer so they did honor that when I provided GHSL loan estimate. Their website look pretty good. While loan officer was responsive (half a day to respond), GHSL’s response were a lot quicker.

I took better’s matched offer by $1,000 back to GHSL, and not only did they matched it, they also waived the originating fee they had originally wanted to charge for a 45 day lock. I went with GSHL because the loan officer responded very quickly. better’s response time was great buy GSHL was better. GSHL also had better ratings (close to 5 stars) on bankrate.

The entire process with GHSL has been great. I would definitely also consider better.com in the future.

It has been a while I haven't owned real estate for a few years but in the previous 15 years I used USAA (not competitive, horrible service surprisingly ), PenFed and Costco and had no problems other than USAA which was outsourced at the time I think.

1. In person through the branch office of a local lender
2. Through a strictly online lender
3. Semi online through a brick and mortar lender located on the other side of the state so it was mostly online and phone but not as slick or automated as the big strictly online lender

Honestly it was basically the same process all three times. I guess the underwriters basically demand all the same background documents from all lenders, or at least those planning to market the mortgage, so it is the same either way.

The strictly online lenders are the easiest if you are computer savvy and used to creating and dealing with .pdf documents and using online forms for uploading and that sort of thing. As a teacher I do that kind of thing all day long anyway so no big deal. But for my parents or anyone not really used to working with digital documents it would probably be easer to use a local lender so you can give them paper documents and they can deal with the scanning and copying and such.

For OP, I would have no qualms taking out a purchase mortgage online. Read the reviews and ask people, but I wouldn’t worry about it being online. Go for the best rate with the lowest closing costs.

We are building a home and closing in under 90 days so I am watching the mortgage market closely. I am following bankrate.com and aimloan to find the best rate. Given where rates are headed I wouldn’t mind getting a 90 day lock from United Mutual Funding, but I am waiting to see how they compare to Aimloan’s 60 day lock. If big difference I will just wait, if 1/8th difference I will probably go ahead and lock. United Mutual also has one free float down on the rate lock, but there are no online publishing of their rates, so have to contact them for current rates. I definitely want to lock before the December Fed meeting.

I've done both PenFed and Quicken/Rocket at different times for different properties.

PenFed was great with rates and closing costs so went with them.

Quicken ... not so much. Costco's lenders had so much better rates and closing costs so went with them. Also, with Quicken, I had to deal with multiple contacts even at the primary level. It's been months that I've closed on the property and yet I get a weekly call from Quicken. I told them I bought the property so now their refinancing dept. is calling

I can't think of anything more luxurious than owning my time. - remomnyc

+1 for aimloan.com. We've done a purchase and a couple refinances through them and it was quick and easy. I love the options of modeling the rates with the related closing costs, going less out of pocket when we wanted to.

have never heard "tri-merged" credit report until today?? (talking to Ally).

Feeling out an online mortgage for a future move and was told I need to unlock the big 3. Then told to 'leave them open' throughout the process. Is that what most folks are doing? I'd rather set them to 'relock' in a week or 30 days or whatnot.

Local lenders- I feel like I've been paying a touch more then I should so hoping to save some $$ (and get a better rate) using suggestions in this thread.

Despite all the 'articles' one reads on online mortgage lending (applying, pre-qualifying etc) it still seems kinda confusing for some reason (is it just me?)....throw in the multiple of online lenders..... :/....one can see why some just go to the local bank- deal w/ 1 person in person kinda thing.

Got loans on two rental properties through Quicken maybe 12 years ago. Got a third one about 3 years ago, again through Quicken. Easy every time.

The first two, Quicken was very competitive. For the third, we didn't even look anywhere else because of the insurance benefits of having all 3 loans with one lender. Essentially we can get one policy which covers all 3 properties. Huge savings, and much better coverage. Total policy limits for all 3 buildings also apply to each building individually.

The only way a lender will allow this is if they hold all of the loans on the properties covered by the single policy.